Kalshi-Backed Group Launches With Former White House Aide

Americans for Fair Markets, an advocacy group backed by prediction-market exchange Kalshi, launched Friday and named Taylor Budowich, a former White House deputy chief of staff, as strategic advisor. The organization will press for federal regulation of prediction markets and challenge sportsbook and casino interests.

The group plans to lobby against misleading claims about prediction markets, push for rules to ban insider trading, and seek restrictions on markets tied to war, terrorism, death or assassination.

“We're not going to be outspent or out-organized by entrenched interests protecting their monopolies,” John Bivona, Kalshi's head of government relations and a board member, said. He added that millions of Americans want regulated, open and fair prediction markets.

Americans for Fair Markets intends to cooperate with the Coalition for Prediction Markets, a trade group launched last year whose members include Kalshi, Robinhood and Coinbase and which is led by former Representatives Sean Patrick Maloney and Patrick McHenry.

Regulatory oversight of prediction markets is contested. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig has asserted the agency's exclusive jurisdiction over many prediction markets, while several states and state gambling regulators maintain that some platforms violate local gaming and betting laws, especially where markets resemble sports wagering. The dispute has drawn attention from lawmakers.

Concerns about insider trading increased after retail traders entered prediction markets following the 2024 elections, fueling rapid growth for platforms including Kalshi and Polymarket. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer opened a congressional probe into insider trading on both exchanges and sent letters to their chief executives seeking information on identity verification, geographic limits and detection of anomalous trading.

Both exchanges introduced measures to address those concerns. Kalshi rolled out a screening tool designed to block political candidates from trading on markets tied to their own races. Polymarket updated its governing documents to add clearer rules on insider trading and enforcement. Lawmakers and regulators have requested details on how those systems operate.

High-profile trades have intensified scrutiny. An account later linked to a U.S. Army soldier placed a large wager on a Polymarket contract predicting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would be ‘out' by a specified date and netted roughly $400,000, prompting questions about whether the bet relied on privileged information.

Americans for Fair Markets listed its priorities as securing federal oversight of exchanges, protecting individuals' rights to participate, enforcing a ban on insider trading, and opposing markets that raise ethical or national security concerns. The group plans to present those positions to federal policymakers and seek public support ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.